Most Europeans chose to overlook the fact that many native cultures, like
them, employed forms of writing to record matters of cultural and political importance - Incan
quipus (knotted cords); Mayan hieroglyphic codices; Iroquoian and Algonquian pictographs and
wampum belts, to name just a few. Europeans emphasized the supremacy of alphabetic literacy (in European
languages) and sought to teach it.

Some natives who became literate went on to employ print in order to speak directly to
European readers. Garcilaso de la Vega, an Inca, modeled his histories on European examples; his narratives were
translated from Spanish into English
and French. [See related essay by Sabine MacCormack]

In North America, Indian preachers like Occom
and Apess sought to appeal to the religious conscience of white audiences.

Cusick wrote the oral traditions of the Iroquois, while
the defeated Black Hawk turned to autobiography to seek justice for his
people.

Sequoyah, dissatisfied with writing in English,
developed a syllabary to enable Cherokees to become literate more
quickly.